Watch Video >>

You’ve been making steady progress in paying off debt, and then it happens—an unexpected expense sets you back. Suddenly, you’re off your planned repayment course, and you don’t know how to get back on track.

Here’s what you need to do to deal with the setback:

Refigure your debt. Pull out all of the records pertaining to your debt and determine what your current totals are. If you’ve been working towards debt repayment for a while, these totals may be considerably less than your previously figured totals. Regardless of your current standing, you’ll need these figures to formulate a new plan.

Re-establish a payment plan. Before you got off track with your debt repayment, you probably had a plan of how much you could afford to pay off each month. Depending on how big of a setback you’ve suffered, that figure may no longer be workable. Take a look at your current debt load and determine how much you can afford to pay.

Try not to despair too much if this number is smaller than before. Consistent repayment is much more important than the dollar amount, so pay off debt following a reasonable repayment schedule.

Plan for future setbacks. With your repayment plan back in place, it’s now time to plan for future setbacks. Take a look at why your recent setback impacted your finances so severely. Are your savings too lean? Did you fail to plan for an impending home repair? Did you allow yourself to make a splurge purchase? Was it simply something unavoidable?